Money Can Buy Happiness, But Not Japan

Credit goes to this blog.

Interesting article posted over at Kotaku, explaining why Japan hates Xbox 360. Well, I should say elements within Japan. The comments come from the Internet's premiere BBS/cesspool, 2chan. You may have heard of the North American iteration, 4chan. If you know 4chan, you know what to expect from the comments.

Gems of insight, such as this:

"Foreigners are satisfied only with killing. Japanese are not that stupid."

If that's not snort worthy, I don't know what is.

In all of those comments there were a select few that seemed to be actual informed criticisms of Microsoft's strategy in Japan as a whole.

"Instead of saying the Xbox is bad, it's important to note that Sony and Nintendo are too established. There isn't much room for them to enter."

That's exactly it right there. As popular game designer Suda 51 put it in this interview: Japan hates change.

"...the American and European audiences are more receptive to new games. They welcome change. The Japanese are more close minded and the market is showing signs of rejection towards new games."

So, if they show rejection towards new games, why not newcomers to the console market? If you look at things that type of mindset, 360's poor performance starts to make more sense. Nintendo is successful because they're the oldest name in console development that Japan can remember. Sony was successful with the Playstation in 1994 because their name been trusted in the Japanese consumer electronics market since 1958.

As for Microsoft?

Well, they're known for selling Windows, and that's about it.

Couple that with the fact that Japanese computer culture is completely different than in North America, and you get the reason why MS is seen as the outsider. For the 360 owners out there, the situation doesn't look like it'll improve anytime soon, either.

What can be done? Not much. For now, MS needs to keep pouring the money into the 360 Japan division and hope for something that moves units on a more permanent basis, unlike the temporary jump in sales following the release of Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata.

Yep, the 360 definitely needs to follow SNKs example and get down with some witch-touching, or something.

Until then, it seems like the 360 will be staying where it is for a while:

According to the latest Media Create numbers, the 360 sold less than the PS2 last week.